Preys and Predators 1 of Part 3

 

3              The Detective

 

The man with the deerstalker hat stepped off the coach that brought him to the street of his destination. He was dressed in the ulster coat and cravat wrapped across this neck. He carried a walking cane with the silver top. He took two steps forward while looking at the gathered crowd across the street, blocking the alleyway there. There were too many coppers there, stopping the crowd from entering the alley.

“You could give me more space to step out, Holmes?” The man who followed the gentleman with the Ulster coat spoke. “I am about to get my rear swiped by the coach.”

“Sorry, my dear Watson.” The man addressed as Holmes moved to the side. “I was observing the scene.”

“Elementary, Holmes. It is pretty much my observation there, but the safety rules state that I need more space to avoid being pulled by the coach.” The other gentleman dressed similarly with the ulster coat and had the bowler hat on the head. He did not carry a cane but a medical bag that gives him a resemblance to a medical person.

“You could step off the other side.” Holmes commented without looking away from the crowd. “The traffic flow denotes that you get off the left.”

“I would if I could, but there was the puddle there on the pavement. I am wearing my new shoes.” Watson replied.

“And new socks. Red and black do not match your personality. I would suggest all black.” Holmes counted the curious observers there.

“Are we going over there or shall we step back to the pavement, Holmes?” The gentleman named Watson took the initiative to be more civilized or was safety conscious. The coach had since left after dropping them. He stepped back from the street to the pavement, but Holmes was already sprinting across the street. The latter sprint had him barely missing the horse-driven coach driver cursing at the reckless man who was running across the coach’s path.

“Are you bonkers or got a death wish, Guvnor?" The coach rider screamed out. “If I'm not home soon, I'm in a lot of Barney.”

Holmes ignored the cockney comment and proceeded towards the crowd. Watson followed on, but he watched for any approaching coaches. Holmes stood behind the gathered and made his inquiries. It was not his usual mode of detection, but these murders had eluded his thinking. He had read all the reports, from the paper clippings to the police reports, but none had given him any clue to the cause of it. He had sat by the window playing his violin, risking himself to be shot by any shooter like Colonel Moran in the case of ‘Adventure of Empty House’.

“I saw the body. It was sliced open like the others.” The chap in the workmen's clothes: baggy overall and ash-covered shirt.

“I saw that, but where are the body parts?” The chap on the left asked.

“I am a butcher. Probably get eaten by now.” The chap dressed in the apron and covered with blood spots. The ones who heard him gave him the stare. “I will know. I am a butcher. There are...”

“Could you have done it?” The first chap asked. “I meant removing the parts and...”

“Hey, I take them out, and then it gets shipped to the kitchens to make...” The butcher frowned then. “Perhaps sausages, or stews.”

“I am not eating them anymore.” The one who spoke was a lady dressed in the blue gown and holding the bag with the red tassel. She was an odd one there, for women were rarely seen at the macabre scene. She saw the stares on her and levelled out her reasoning.

“I am... I was nearby and more to it; I am a... writer, and dead person crime scenes are... interesting.” The lady looked at the scene. Her explanations shut the curiosity, and Holmes could not resist studying the lady, but his attention was pulled away by the appearance of an interesting person.

Doctor Henry Jekyll is a renowned chemistry researcher; his pursuit of the works had made him a recluse from the fraternity. His peers had called him ‘a man of madness;’ however, he defended his works as pioneering the works in chemistry.

Holmes was intrigued by the appearance of the doctor, whose workplace was across the city. It would have taken him an hour or more to get here. More to it, the Doctor Jekyll label of madness was rumoured by the prints to hold multiple personalities. In the prints, it was reported that the doctor displayed aggressive behaviour in one of the seminars where his peers had salvaged him on his presentation. The doctor flipped his calm composure and threw the chair there before he stormed out of the hall. Since then, he was not invited to any talks and remained a recluse.

Doctor Jekyll was dressed in the dark grey coat over his regular attire then. He was wearing a bowler hat over his head.

“Holmes, is that...” Watson also saw the unusual onlooker.

“Yes, I saw. He may be in the area and heard of the murder. All of them here are... Well, most of them should be, as I will say, curious, but we would not know. The killer could be here too.”

“Your assumption may be right, for I heard from the copper there, the body was found an hour ago, and...” Watson stopped when he saw the concentration expression on the other. Holmes had a peculiar knack to slip into his own madness—a manner of words here. His mind will be eliminating the trivial and focusing on the main clues.

“Doctor Watson, may I have your professional advice?” That invitation came to the attention of Doctor Watson.